LA - Mid-City Works Tour (07.19.08)

FREE AFTERNOON PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS MID-CITY WORKS BY

RUDOLPH SCHINDLER AND GREGORY AIN

Tours, Talk to Focus on Mackey Apartments and Dunsmuir Flats

The MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House will open its doors at the Mackey Apartments for a free community afternoon highlighting the architecture of R.M. Schindler, the Artists and Architects in Residence Program, and the renovation of the Mackey garages. The Mackey Apartments are located at 1137 S. Cochran Avenue in the mid- Wilshire section of Los Angeles. Scheduled for Saturday, July 19, 2008 from noon – 4 p.m., the afternoon will include refreshments, tours of the Mackey Apartments and Gregory Ain’s nearby Dunsmuir Flats, and a 1 p.m. lecture on the work of Rudolph Schindler by architect, author and Chair of Cal Poly Pomona School of Architecture, Judith Sheine.

The afternoon is especially designed for Mid-City neighbors, allowing them to tour the R.M. Schindler-designed Mackey Apartments (1939), home to the MAK Center’s Artist and Architect in Residence program, and view the work of the MAK Center Artists and Architects in Residence who are based there. Architects Space International will give tours of the renovated building and answer questions about the garage renovation.

The Dunsmuir Flats (1937), designed by architect Gregory Ain and located a few blocks from the Mackey Apartments, will also be open to the public. Constructed two years earlier than the Mackey, this innovative building will give neighbors an additional appreciation for the modernist architecture in their neighborhood. Walking maps will lead visitors between the Mackey Apartments and the Dunsmuir Flats.

Visitors to the Mackey open house will also gain free admission that day to the Schindler House in West Hollywood upon presentation of their walking maps.

MAK Center Artists and Architects in Residence Program
The Artists and Architects in Residence Program at the Mackey Apartments is a six-month residency offered twice annually to two artists and two architects. This unique program is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, the Arts and Culture of the Republic of Austria in cooperation with the MAK—Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna. Each spring, a high-profile, international jury is convened in Vienna to select eight projects from international applicants as well as two alternates per session.

Mackey Apartments
The Mackey Apartments building was purchased by the Republic of Austria in 1995, and made available for the activities of the MAK Center.

Located on a flat lot in a residential neighborhood, the originally four-unit (since converted to five) apartment building is one of a series of residential projects built in the 1930s. Unlike international-style architects, Schindler seldom designed identical apartment units; his apartments are as complex, individual, and innovative as his houses. The Mackey possesses typical Schindler characteristics: compact apartment layout, exceptional incorporation of natural light, built-in furniture, variable ceiling heights, and private outdoor gardens or mini-balconies.

Restoration work on the Mackey Apartments began in when purchased in 1995, and continued with architects Space International in 2001 and 2004, thanks to funding by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Labor. In all phases of renovation, the objective was to recreate the room layout, complex lighting, and the use of materials for surfaces and color schemes in keeping with the architect’s original intentions. Ultimately, the renovation has created a refreshing building that testifies to Schindler’s love of open spaces, airiness, and versatility.

The Mackey Apartments are located at 1137 S. Cochran Avenue in the mid-Wilshire section of Los Angeles. The MAK Center for Art & Architecture is located at the Schindler House, 835 N. Kings Road in West Hollywood. Public hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Regular admission is $7/$17 with the guide book, Schindler By MAK; students and seniors, $6/$16 with book; free for Friends of the Schindler House and on Fridays, 4 to 6 p.m. Parking is available at the public structure at the northeast corner of Kings Road and Santa Monica Boulevard. For further information, the public may contact www.MAKcenter.org or call
(323) 651-1510.